Eagles News: Nick Foles wants Carson Wentz to succeed ‘even at the expense of me not playing’

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Nick Foles: I’m excited to wear that Eagles jersey for “at least one more year” - PFT
“Carson is a tremendous player,” Foles said. “He’s going to be a great player in this league for a long time. I think just having those open discussions in the locker room, starting with your friendship first and then your teammates and genuinely caring for one another. When he’s out there, he knows I’m not like vying for him to get hurt or something like that. I want him to succeed. I want him to stay healthy the entire season. I want him to have a great career. Even at the expense of me not playing. But that’s where I’ve got to put my ego aside and say, ‘Hey, this is what’s best for the team.’ I can still be a leader in the locker room but just in my lane. That’s very important. It becomes tricky. You know how it is. It gets a little tricky. Now we’re going into this season, and everyone’s wanting to know are you going to start the season. We’ll see what happens. But the thing is Carson can get healthy. He knows I’m there. He knows I’m not trying to take it over. I would love to play in Philly the rest of my career. I love the city. But I know that’s not the situation. I want Carson to have an amazing career there, be a legend there. I’m just excited about this season and then we’ll see what happens after that.”

4 Eagles who could regress, and 2 who could improve - BGN
Carson Wentz and his unsustainable TD rate. How good was Carson Wentz in 2017? His league leading 7.5 TD% was the 5th best mark in the past 10 seasons. So right away, we should expect it to drop in 2018. But by how much? In a 10 year span from 2007-2016, 31 quarterbacks who qualified for the passing title (224 attempts, 14 per game) had a TD% of 6+ and qualified the following season. All but two saw their rate drop, some marginally, some severely.

Way Under the Radar - Iggles Blitz
Aziz Shittu signed with the Eagles as a UDFA in 2016. He had a good preseason and showed real promise. He spent time on the practice squad. I was interested to see the kind of progress he would make in 2017. Unfortunately Shittu got hurt and we didn’t get to see him. The Eagles brought Shittu back this year and he’s had some good moments.

How the Philadelphia Eagles offense takes advantage of man coverage - USA Football
Tight man coverage creates a few different issues for offenses. The defense has the ability to disrupt the timing of traditional passing concepts with re-routes at the line of scrimmage. Due to the more aggressive nature of man coverage, the throwing windows are often tighter as well. When offenses anticipate man coverage, it is important to have a few different concepts available that will nullify the defense’s advantage and possibly create explosive plays. When the Philadelphia Eagles faced man coverage in 2017, they had multiple answers waiting for the defense. The first diagram shown below illustrates one of their common man coverage answers out of the trips formation.

Rating No. 1 wide receivers for all 32 NFL teams - ESPN
2018 outlook: Alshon Jeffery played 2017 with a torn rotator cuff and still managed to post 57 catches, 789 yards and nine touchdowns during the regular season and came up big during the team’s postseason run. He was rewarded with a four-year, $52 million contract that runs through 2021. The injury kept him from practicing this spring. Coach Doug Pederson said training camp “is going to be real important” for Jeffery. Assuming he returns to full health, he should continue to produce as Carson Wentz’s No. 1 wide receiver. Projected target share: 22 percent. Jeffery’s 22 percent target share in 2017 doesn’t exactly jump off the page, but he saw 26 more targets than No. 2 Nelson Agholor. During weeks he was active, Jeffery averaged a hefty 26 percent share during the past five seasons.

Newfound Fame Hasn’t Changed Nick Foles - PE.com
​Nick Foles spent Tuesday in New York City promoting his new book. He was open and candid about his journey to becoming a Super Bowl MVP and his wife Tori’s disease.

Roob’s 10 Observations: Crazily underrated Eagles LB, Matthews’ future and more - NBC Sports Philadelphia
Another reason to love Doug Pederson: The Eagles’ 29 fourth-down attempts last year are the most on record (the NFL began tracking fourth-down attempts in 1991). The Eagles were an insane 20-for-29 on fourth down, including some fairly important ones. It was amazing watching Doug evolve last year into such a fearless play-caller.

Breaking down PFF’s run concepts - PFF
Also known as a “stretch” play, the outside zone play is designed to get the defense moving laterally, challenge the edge of the run defense and hit the hole where the defense is at its weakest. The running back takes a wide track, looking to stretch the edge of the defense and he is generally reading the playside edge defender to determine whether or not he should continue his path or “cut back” against the grain as the interior of the defense is being moved laterally. Outside zone can and will hit anywhere, playside and backside, and it’s crucial that the running back read his keys decisively while relying on only one quick cut to his desired hole. Because the play can hit anywhere along the offensive line, back-side blocks are critical to ensure that there are holes for the running back to hit if he has to take the ball inside or even all the way to the back side of the play.

For These Nine NFL Players, 2018 Is a Now-or-Never Year - The Ringer
These highly drafted players are running out of time to prove themselves—who will break out?

Tweet of the Day: Is QB coach Kevin O’Connell Jay Gruden’s replacement? - Hogs Haven
Jay Gruden has made the shortlist of several pundits’ “Coaches on the Hotseat” lists this offseason. There’s some speculation that Gruden could be axed if the Redskins have another disappointing season in 2018. Quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell, who is younger than Alex Smith (33) and played in the NFL as recently as 2012, is considered a rising star by some close to the organization. O’Connell could be promoted after the season, regardless of whether Gruden stays on as head coach or not.

Frank Gore owns an NFL record that will never be broken - SB Nation
On Frank Gore’s final touch as a member of the Indianapolis Colts, he took a second-and-8 handoff from Jacoby Brissett, bounced it outside, turned on his geriatric jets, burst forward for 9 yards, stayed in bounds, and clinched the W for his team. Oh, it also pushed him over 1,200 yards from scrimmage on the year, extending his record of consecutive seasons reaching that mark to 12, which should stand until the sun burns out. No other player had that many seasons with 1,200 total yards period, and only two guys — Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith — have had that many seasons hitting even 1,000.

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